Free paper and fabric, Tampa

I have too much, simple as that. I spend more time going through my stuff, then organizing it, then putting all the extra away, then I do creating.

I have discontinued sample books of wallpaper and decorator fabric samples of fabric/cloth and a handful of other things that must go.

I don't know a single other mixed media/collage artist so I'm resorting to forums to give it away (or maybe trade if you have....NO! disregard that! I cannot store anymore stuff! I must be strong!) I'm in NW Hillsborough county right off the Veterans.

Your extra stuff sounds like heaven to me. My husband had a stroke this fall and all of our resources have gone towards healing him, helping relearn how to do things, speech therapy, and medical equipment such as a walker and wheelchair.

As you might imagine, I haven't had the time to shop around for supplies, nor the money to buy new things. I guess I can say I've gone through some withdrawl. I would love to have supples you don't want. Even if you are willing to give me only some of the items. I'd be happy to pay for postage/shipping etc. to get them to me. Thanks for considering it.

I would also be interested in some of your fabric samples and possibly wallpaper books. I love vintage looks and am a button collector so if any of your items seem like they'd fit with that, let me know. Thanks!

My thinking was that this would have to be a local trade, which is why I mentioned where I am, as this stuff is big and heavy.

I just went out and weighed the 5 wallpaper books and it was 45 lbs. Plus, I have a 15 gallon kitchen garbage bag filled with decorator fabric samples. This would require a very large box and lots of postage. I would have to take it all to a UPS store or similar and buy a box as well as pay to have it packed and shipped.

I have a better idea for both of you....contact interior decorators or home improvement stores and ask for their discontinued items. That's how I got these. As the reps from the various companies visit the stores, they pull the old stuff to replace with the new. The old stuff gets tossed. Then the rep hits the next place and does it again. If you can contact the reps or the stores and ask them for these items they will be more than glad to give them to you.

Fwiw, the Taylor King fabric rep is in my area and I just got about two hundred new fabric pieces, each about 12" x 12", plus books of fabric strips. Go to their site and plug in your zip code and you'll see the stores in your area. Contact those stores and ask for the discards. http://www.taylorking.com/customer.php

HI Lori- Wow, it sounds like you have tons of materials. Thanks for the suggestion about how to find sample books. I'll sure give it a try. I've always enjoyed looking at fabric sample books at interior design shops. I'd be trilled to obtain some of the books of discontinued products. I will work on it.

I live in NH , if you can't trade the bag of fabric samples - I would be willing to pay for them plus handling and shipping (ie:getting the box and mailing either USPS or UPS) so if that would work for you great but if not have fun in the trade I hope you get something great!!

Well, if you want to pay for it to get to you, I won't stop you, lol. I can take it over to the UPS store and have them box it and ship it. I went to their site and tried to calculate cost. I used my zip in Tampa and a random zip for Manchester and it looks like it would be around $35-40. If you still want to do it, let me know. I'm trying to think how we could do it and I guess I can send it COD or you could paypal me. I'm open to other suggestions.

Here's what I have cleared out so far in the fabric/wallpaper area...

This might be hard to show quantity but here goes. This stack of Taylor King samples is about 12" high. The stack of smaller pieces is about 6" high. And two sample books still intact. I put this in a bag and weighed it on the bathroom scale and it was around 30lbs.

Yes, I just cleaned out a closet and have fabric books and wallpaper books that are going to go. There's a local
Cloth Paper Scissors mixed media group which I joined. So now all my
extra's get distributed during our get togethers. Our next meet-up is
Oct. 27 at 4 pm. We get together and show each other what we've been
doing, pick a "challenge" of sorts for the next month, then play with
some new technique or product (this month will be playing and melting
tyvek). The next meeting is at my
house so I'll send you address/directions if you'd like to join us (contact me privately off list at crueltyfre@gmail.com for address and such) If
you want more info, we started as a Meet-up group but are talking about
going to Yahoo so not sure how much longer this link will be good...http://www.meetup.com/Tampa-CPS-Fans/
Lori

Your fabric and paper supplies are probably gone by now. If not, I would LOVE to buy whatever is left to use in my classroom. Of course, I will pay for shipping to CA - I've never written a message, or sent a reply, so I probably sound really stupid. I'm not sure what to so now. I don't even know if you'll even get this message, or to tell you who I am. Where are the

And I won't be having any new stuff to disperse through the message boards either. Since this posting, a local mixed media group has started here in Tampa and I share my extra's with them. Anything that wasn't taken by them was then FreeCycled (Phreecycle) locally. This stuff is very, very, heavy.

There is a store in Tampa called Upcycle which sells fabric and wallpaper books. Maybe they can sell you some (it's a name your own price sorta placeso should be cheap) and arrange shipping.

As I said before, if you want paper and fabric books, I would suggest you contact an interior decorator in your area. They all have to toss incredible amounts of fabric and wallpaper books yearly. The amount they throw away is staggering. Every manufacturer of this stuff comes out with new lines every year and all the old discontinued stuff has to go. I called one, told them I was a local artist that would be interested in their discontinued books. They were HAPPY to give me their stuff, they hated throwing it in the dumpster. They took my number and when the reps come through and pile up the discontinued items, they call me and I go pick it up. It's about 3-4 times a year. Depending on the manufacturer, sometimes it's just fabric books, other times its a wallpaper manufacturer, other times it's the mother lode with fabric, paper, ceramic tiles, rugs, chunks of granite, pool tiles, wood samples and more.